Quote of the week by S&D MEP Iratxe García Pérez

“The roots of sexual harassment and abuse lie in an unequal society, where one side can misuse the power they have over someone else, where the victims are afraid to speak out and witnesses look the other way. This has to stop. Men have to stand up and take their responsibility to end the impunity. We all have to stand up and call out violence against women – not just the victims. We all have to say load and clear: women you are not alone!"
 
This week

On Thursday we were in Antwerp to talk about the cities and the urban future of sustainable development. Our Vice-President, Kathleen van Brempt, joined others such as Professor Eric Corijn, Jan Rotmans and Eva Pérez-García on a thrilling discussion about how to tackle climate change globally and locally together. Seb Dance MEP intervened to bring a light on how to engage the public in this transition for the future, after a successful conference in Parliament in the morning on Air Quality in cities. The conference livestream is available in English, French, and Dutch here, with plenty of snippets and photos on our twitter feed!

Upcoming

In committees next week, Guillaume Balas will lead the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs on the 28th through the detail of his report on coordination of social security systems . Not less than 61 amendments have been tabled and we will be following progress until early January.
 
On Tuesday, there will be two very important votes in the ITRE committee related to the 'Clean Energy for all Europeans' package, presented by the Commission on 30 November 2016.  The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) review, whose rapporteur is Adam GIEREK and the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), whose rapporteur is Jose BLANCO (on Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources)
 
On Monday afternoon, S&D Commissioner Pierre Moscovici will appear at a joint meeting of the Economic and Employment committees to discuss the Annual Growth Survey and the challenges ahead for the European economy.
 
The end of the week will see a whirlwind of activity with plenary votes on the EU budget for 2018 and a range of other issues including improving the VAT taxation system. Be sure to spot us on Facebook and Twitter to keep on top of it all!
 
On Wednesday and Thursday next week we have our Trade Conference, with Mayor of Charleroi Paul Magnette, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, and ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini joining others to discuss the future of EU Trade Agreements. The conference will take place in room ASP A3G3 on both days.
 
On the 6th of December we will be holding an S&D Group Hearing on refugee sponsorship. With opening and closing remarks by our President, Gianni Pittella, we will be led by S&D Vice-Presidents Tanja Fajon and Josef Wiedenholzer, as well as representatives from the Canadian Mission to the EU Mary Coulter, Julien Féret, and Magali Peltier; and others, on how sponsorship can bolster efforts to resettle and integrate refugees in the EU. Registrations are open now, closing on the 4th December.

That afternoon, we have another conference on Street Arts for Inclusive Societies, with Julie Ward and many representatives from civil society, registrations are open here

Our President Gianni Pittella will also join committee chair Tanja Fajon for our event 'A Society For All' on recent refugee policy. To register, send an email to s-d.Conf-Integration@europarl.europa.eu

On the 7th we have our Work 4.0 event, as a joint meeting of the Employment and Digital Europe Working Groups. Discussions will be led by our Vice-President Josef Wiedenholzer, with Professor Ursula Haws, Esther Lynch from the European Trade Union Confederation, Ana Carla Pereira from the Commission's EMPL unit, and others joining. Registrations are open now until the 6th of December here.

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